Her Forbidden Alpha

by Tabitha Conall

  Killion started to answer, but Darius spoke over him. “We’ll wait.” If he left here, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make himself return.

  After Warner left the room, an uncomfortable silence filled it. Darius had never felt like this with Killion before, but now he realized that he’d crossed a threshold his siblings had yet to cross. It created a gulf between them.

  It also made him wonder how many of the wolves thought like Warner rather than Killion and Jennalynn. Now that he thought about the council members who’d vocally urged him to give up Aislinn, every one of them had been unmated. Maybe the mated wolves knew how impossible it would be.

  He wasn’t just the pack’s leader. He was their emotional anchor. When he grew enraged, the pack also grew enraged. That was one of the reasons he’d spent so much time meditating and learning to control his emotions before he took over the pack. When he felt calm, the pack felt calm. When he yearned for peace, the pack yearned for peace.

  It wasn’t so simple of course. His emotions didn’t override the emotions of the individuals in his pack. But he did influence them. And what that meant was that right now, when he felt such despair, the pack also felt despair tinging their every move.

  What good would his army be if they were weighed down by despair?

  At length, Warner came back into the room and closed the door. He sat across from them and clasped his hands on the table. “I have bad news. There’s no way to break the mating.”

  “None?” Killion said. “But—”

  ”None. Worse, to deny the mating would be catastrophic. I mentioned before that every wolf I’ve known who lost their mate also lost their mind. Apparently it’s been that way throughout our history. Not a single wolf who lost their mate has remained sane for long.”

  Chapter 8

  Darius’ mind spun. This is what he’d wanted. Now no one could tell him to give Aislinn up.

  Warner leaned forward. “You might have noticed that when, at the end of their lives, a werewolf’s mate dies before them, the wolf soon follows. It’s a mercy, apparently. Something built into us. But when we lose our mates young and our bodies aren’t ready to stop, it’s our minds that go.”

  “Darius wouldn’t go mad,” Killion said. “He’s the strongest among us.”

  “Yes,” Darius said. “But what you need to ask yourself is what happens to the pack if their Alpha loses his mind?”

  “Chaos,” Warner whispered. “Your willingness to sacrifice your mate is honorable, but you can’t do it. You can’t let her go or it will be much, much worse for all of us.”

  Darius’ eyes burned and his breath suddenly shortened. The relief he felt at Warner’s words was almost too intense to bear. Ever since he’d found Aislinn, everyone had been fighting him. Warner was the first one who truly wanted what Darius wanted. “Tell the pack that.” He clenched his jaw to hold back the emotions flashing through him.

  Warner drew back. “What?”

  “Both of you.” Darius focused on Killion, suddenly feeling all too warm, a tempest rising in his chest. “Tell everyone you see that there’s no way to break the mating and if I have to give her up I won’t just go mad...you’ll all go mad with me.” He stood. “Tell them. Because I’m sick to death of everyone whispering behind my back that I need to give up the woman who’s more important to me than anyone else on the face of the planet.”

  As he stalked out of the room, just barely restraining himself from crashing the door against the wall, the rage that pulsed through his veins felt hungry. He left the Library and headed down the street. Through the pink-tinged haze that covered his vision, he saw his people clenching their fists and scowling. His anger, leading to their anger. He needed to get control of himself.

  He didn’t want to.

  He wanted to kill someone, rip them to shreds and then stomp on their remains. Why did they think they had the right to ask him to give her up? They didn’t have the right and he wanted to shove that fact down their throats.

  Most of all Killion. But he wasn’t so far gone that he didn’t realize he’d regret hurting his brother for the rest of his days. That’s why he’d left the Library as quickly as he could.

  Before he could calm down, he needed to release some of his rage. He called Cael. “Meet me at the training grounds. Now. And prepare to get dirty.” He didn’t give a damn what Cael was doing or why he might not want to show up, so he hung up as soon as he finished talking.

  He hadn’t felt so livid in years. How dare they all tell him he should give up his mate? And he’d listened to them. What a fool he’d been for listening to them. A stupid, fucking fool.

  He’d barely reached the training grounds when he started to strip. By the time Cael came jogging down the path, Darius was naked and ready to change.

  “What is it?” Cael said. “I can feel you…what’s the matter?”

  The closer a wolf was to the Alpha in terms of hierarchy, the more influenced they were by his emotions. As his third, Cael must have been swimming in his rage.

  Darius didn’t care. “Strip. I need to fight, and I want a partner who I probably won’t kill.”

  Cael pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the ground. “Probably?”

  “You’d better fight hard.” Darius changed. The change was painful, as usual, but no more than he could bear. When finished, he waited fifteen or twenty seconds to let the last of the pain fade from his body.

  Cael hadn’t changed yet. Darius wanted to jump him anyway, but had just enough presence of mind left to hold himself back. So he paced. And when Cael took too long, Darius paced and growled.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” Cael said. “Goddamn, what’s wrong with you?” He shucked off his pants and immediately started to change, his muscles contorting and his bones crunching. He groaned, a groan that turned throaty and animalistic, until finally he lay panting on the ground. Darius gave him a moment.

  Darius wanted to kill him…and he didn’t. And he knew that. Not that it mattered. The wolf, who didn’t know fancy words or logical thoughts, was fighting for control. All the wolf knew was that people had tried to keep him from his mate. Darius had kept the wolf calm up until now. But now, the wolf was pissed.

  All that mattered was that Darius was still in control. The wolf wanted to kill, but Darius held him at bay...barely.

  As soon as Cael staggered to his feet, Darius pounced. Cael jumped away just fast enough to avoid fangs in his throat. As Cael skittered around trying to get a good position, Darius stalked him.

  Cael lunged, snapping his teeth. He came nowhere near Darius, so it was clearly meant as posturing. Darius rushed him, not stopping until he reached Cael, who twisted out of the way then leapt toward Darius’ back.

  Darius rolled and Cael hit the dirt hard. By the time Darius had jumped to his feet, Cael had pushed to his own. Darius crouched, ready to leap.

  He feinted left, then left again, then as Cael anticipated that Darius would go right, Darius leapt left and caught his third around the neck with his teeth.

  Cael stilled, kneeling in submission. It’d been too easy. Darius wanted more.

  With Cael’s throat in his mouth, the wolf could easily kill him. Just a little more pressure. Darius resisted the urge to bite down harder, knowing he’d regret it, even as the wolf struggled to gain control and do what he wanted.

  He’d heard others talk about their human and wolf halves as separate but so close as to be nearly indistinguishable. But Darius didn’t feel that way. He’d always felt the two halves keenly, the one that wanted violence and brute force, rutting and feeding and dominion, and the other that wanted peace and control. He’d worked to keep his wolf half contained, but now, right now, he came closer to losing that control than he ever had before.

  The wolf wanted Cael’s throat. Darius didn’t.

  “Darius!” Killion’s voice came from far away.

  The wolf ignored it, caught in the battle for Cael’s life, so Darius ignored it too.

&nb
sp; Then it came again, but louder. “Darius! We found the Humans Firsters in the forest. There are more than we expected. We need you in the war room.”

  Not now. The wolf gave one final push and took control. Now was for revenge…but the one he really wanted stood behind him, human, weak, easy prey.

  The wolf released Cael, only taking a little bit of blood when his teeth scraped Cael’s fur-covered skin, and turned. Even as he sized up Killion, Darius fought him. Not Killion. Nevertheless, the wolf advanced, growling.

  Killion backed up. “Whoa. What’s up with you?”

  The wolf crouched, ready to leap onto Killion. He wiggled his butt slightly, getting the feel of his hind legs. Then he jumped.

  Killion backpedaled, but Darius, screaming inside the wolf, couldn’t stop the forward motion. Then a couple of hundred pounds of bricks hit him in the side. He fell to the ground, Cael on top of him. Their legs tangled, and before they’d managed to set themselves right side up, they’d both gotten a few more nips in.

  Crashing to the ground had taken the wind of out of the wolf, and Darius finally wrested enough control to force a change back to human. He’d have an easier time maintaining control in his human form. His sore muscles stretched and pulled, his bones popping and crunching into a new shape as pain smashed through him. When finished, he lay on his back breathing hard.

  “What the hell was that?” Killion stood behind the flimsy wooden fence around the training ground.

  “Don’t ever tell me to give up my mate again,” Darius growled. “If you do, I won’t be able to stop my wolf from killing you.”

  “I’m your brother,” Killion said.

  “You saw what just happened. I nearly killed you. I would have, if not for Cael. So don’t do it. Last warning.”

  “Darius. I’m sorry. It’s just—”

  ”Stop, for Goddess’ sake.” Cael lay on the ground, having just changed back. “If he tells you to shut up, shut up!” He groaned as he pushed to a sitting position. “What the hell happened with the Elders anyway?”

  Darius waited. He’d given Killion and Warner an order, and he wanted to see it carried out. When Killion didn’t speak, Darius met his eyes and nodded.

  Killion rushed to answer. “The Elders said there’s no way to break the mating, and if Darius’ mate leaves, he’ll go mad. They said it happens to everyone. Except with Darius being Alpha, if he goes mad—”

  ”We all will,” Cael finished. “Oh, sweet Bendis.” He called on Bendis, the Goddess of the hunt.

  “Yeah,” Killion said. “That was the gist of it.”

  “So what do we do now?” Cael said.

  Darius slapped the ground and shoved himself up to a standing position, his legs still a little shaky. “We fight.”

  ***

  Gideon didn’t want to call the General again but he didn’t have a choice. He had to convince the General to agree to a cease fire or Aislinn might get hurt. For all he knew, if the Humans Firsters attacked, the wolves might just kill her.

  When the General appeared on the video screen, Gideon stiffened his back. He had to appear strong, no matter what. The General didn’t appreciate weakness.

  “Sir, the wolves continue to insist on a cease fire,” Gideon said. “They also want a public apology for what happened at the peace talks. If we do these things, they’ll give Aislinn back.”

  The General’s face turned a mottled color, as though he were holding his breath.

  Gideon hurried to continue. “I feel certain I can negotiate away the public apology, sir. But the cease fire–they won’t budge on that. And they know you’re in their woods. They’ve threatened to attack if you don’t leave immediately.”

  “I told you there was no point in negotiating with them,” the General said. “We knew they’d never give Aislinn up.”

  Which wasn’t true. They were willing to give her back if the Humans Firsters just ceased their aggressions...which Gideon knew the General would never do.

  “But it was a good diversion while it lasted. Now that they know we’re here, it’s pointless to continue the so-called negotiations.” The General paused. “I have other plans. The mercenaries I hired last month will finally come in handy. They’re acquiring explosives right now. Tonight they’ll go into the Holding, rescue Aislinn, and set the charges. We’ll blow the place sky-high.” He grinned, a feral grin that looked more like it belonged on one of their wolfish enemies than on a human being.

  It seemed a solid plan, except for one thing. “What if they can’t find Aislinn?”

  “You mean if the wolves have her tied up somewhere, torturing her? We have to accept that she might rather die than come back to us damaged as she is. But they’ll do their best to find her. And either way, she’ll be released from her prison.”

  Gideon’s chest tightened until he couldn’t breathe. Had the General always been this way, so callous about the lives around him? How could he accept his daughter’s death so casually?

  How could Gideon support him?

  Gideon found his breath and his voice. “They need to keep going until they find her, sir. As long as they use charges that have a remote detonator and not a timer, they should have as much time as they need to find her.” What would convince this man to bring his daughter home? “Alive, she will make a wonderful example for our people of what the wolves are capable of. Dead, we’ll never know what they did to her.” He hated saying the words, but couldn’t think of any other way to convince the General.

  “Dead, she’ll be a martyr,” the General said.

  “Or a mistake.” Gideon’s voice shook just a little. What he was about to say might anger the General...or sway him. “If you rescue her, the people will see you as a strong father who does what it takes to protect his children. If you blow up the building and she dies because they fail to bring her back, the people might turn on you. They might not like that you brought a building down on top of your own daughter.”

  “They’ll understand.” The General cleared his throat. “I can convince them.”

  “Still, it would be far easier to save her than to convince the people afterward.”

  The General stayed silent for a moment, gazing off to the side of the screen. “Yes. It would be better if the mercenaries rescue her before they detonate the explosives.” He leaned slightly toward the camera. “But one way or another, the Holding will come down tonight.”

  He’d failed. “Sir.”

  “Get out here. No need for you to stay behind now that the negotiations are over.” The General cut the connection.

  What had he done? He could have tried to convince the General not to send the mercenaries at all–that sending them into the Holding was sending them on a suicide mission. He could have mentioned the General’s wife, Siobhan, and how heartbroken she would be if Aislinn didn’t come home.

  He should have made sure Aislinn wouldn’t die.

  It wasn’t too late. Gideon got his assistant to arrange for his transport to Connecticut ASAP and then headed home to pack. And on the way, he called Tierney’s house. Siobhan needed to know what was going on.

  A few minutes later, Tierney’s husband had connected Gideon with Aislinn’s mother. “I’m calling about Aislinn.” Gideon hurried down the path toward his home.

  “What’s happened?” Siobhan said.

  “The General’s decided to attack the Holding. He says he’ll get her out if he can and if not—”

  ”What are you talking about?”

  “Aislinn.”

  “What about Aislinn?”

  Gideon stopped short. “Hasn’t the General told you what happened yesterday?”

  “Gideon. Start at the beginning. Tell me what’s happened to my daughter.”

  “Sit down.” He didn’t have time to break it to her gently. “The peace negotiations went badly. The wolves caught on to the General’s plan and grabbed Aislinn in order to escape. They took her with them and now they have her locked up in the Holding.”

  A
ll he heard on the other end of the line was breathing.

  “I’ve been trying to negotiate for her release, but the General doesn’t want to negotiate. He keeps saying things like ‘she’d be better off dead after what they’ve been doing toher.’ But Siobhan, I talked to her. She sounded fine. What if they haven’t tortured her? We could save her.”

  “Of course they’ve tortured her.” Her voice sounded rough. “My poor baby. And her father might be right but that doesn’t give him the right to decide for her.”

  Shit. She was almost as nuts as her husband. How had he never seen that before? Still, she seemed to care a little more about Aislinn than the General did. “Meet me in Connecticut. Convince him to give her a chance to live.”

  “I can meet you there tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow’s too late. He’s going in tonight.”

  “I can’t get there by tonight. The closest airport only has a couple of flights a day and they’re already done and gone. But I’ll call Fergus now. And I’ll be there tomorrow.”

  Fergus was the General. It always threw Gideon when she called the General by his given name.

  A few minutes later, they had said their goodbyes and hung up. He hoped she’d call the General as she’d promised. But for all the practicality in her tone, her words were just as crazy as the his.

  ***

  After the fight, Darius spent a few minutes in his room, meditating. Killion had protested that they needed him in the war room immediately, but Darius knew if he didn’t get some time to himself, his wolf would tear into every council member who’d gone against him these last few days.

  Half an hour later, after nowhere near enough time by himself, he stalked into the war room to see the entire council talking and pacing and poring over large maps spread out on the wooden tables.

  Jennalynn hurried in his direction, followed by all the wolves in the council. “Killion told us.” She dropped to her knees and tipped her head to the side. The other wolves did the same. “We’re sorry.”